Baseball batting practice device



Jan. 30, 1968 F. 1.. LENTINE 3,366,383

BASEBALL BHATTING PRACTICE DEVICE Filed Oct. 14, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l'INVENTOR PETE? L. LE/VT/A/' BY F0WL 5e, (M0555 GAMER/ELL ATTOF/VE/S Jan.30, 1968 j P. 1.. LENTINE 3,356,383

BASEBALL BATTING PRACTICE DEW-{ICE Filed Oct. 14, 1964 v 2 SheetsSheetINVENTOR. P'TE/Q L. Lf/VT/A/E FOl/VLLQ (M0555 a GAME/Ff United StatesPatent Qtfice 3,356,333 Patented Jan. 30, 1968 3,366,383 BASEBALLBATTING PRACTICE DEVICE Peter L. Lentine, Encino, Calif., assignor oftwenty-five percent to Jerome A. Reiner, Los Angeles, Calif. Filed Oct.14, 1964, Ser. No. 403,877 4 Claims. (Cl. 273-26} ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLGSURE The application discloses a device to allow a baseball playerto practice batting in a relatively confined space. A generallyhorizontal back stop of canvas is positioned above the ground slightlyforward of a home plate, and a baseball is suspended in the strike zoneby a cord. The batter bats the ball against the canvas and continues todo so as it rebounds from the backstop.

This invention relates to a device for improving the hitting proficiencyof baseball players and, more particularly, to a device for practicingbatting in a relatively confined space.

The most important factors in hitting a baseball well are timing,watching the ball and knowing the strike zone. Like any other sport,baseball requires constant practice, and yet, it is difiicult in manycases for a batter to get as much practice as he needs to become reallyproficient. Batting practice, of course, it a time-honored pre-gameactivity and additional attention is devoted to it during most practicesessions. In recent years, pitching machines have made it possible for abaseball player to get more of the practice necessary to develop aproper stance and a good swing. But in both cases, the practice sessionsrequire not only the batting practice pitcher or the pitching machinebut a baseball diamond and outfielders to retrieve the batted balls.

In many situations, it is desirable to provide some means for a ballplayer to work on his hitting, particularly his stance and swing, in alimited or confined space and one wherein it is not necessary toretrieve the ball after each swing. In an effort to provide such apractice system, a number of devices have been developed. For example,one form of a batting practice device is disclosed in Patent 3,006,647issued to H. L. Haskett on Oct. 31, 1961, and another variationisdisclosed in Patent 2,839,- 300 issued to D. L. Blaha et al. on June 17,1958. Both the Haskett and Blaha devices have the advantage of providinga practice device that is usable in a re stricted space and which doesnot require outfielders to retrieve the balls; however, each has certaindisadvantages, primarily in terms of providing a relatively free movingbaseball so that the user can correct his timing and swing after eachswing.

The present invention, though simple in design and concept, constitutesa substantial improvement over the devices of the prior art. The instantbatting practice device not only permits a batter to improve his swing,but to sharpen his timing reflexes as well. And, at least in part, itallows him to take into account the normal strike zone that he must knowduring actual play.

In its general organization, the present invention comprises a flexiblepiece of material such as canvas suspended horizontally approximatelysix feet above the ground, and a baseball attached to a non-stretchablecord supported in spaced apart relation to the flexible material withthe point of attachment of the cord coincident with the plane of theflexible material. A plate, which should be positioned approximately sixto ten inches behind the equilibrium position of the baseball, isprovided so that a batter in swinging at the suspended ball tends todrive it into the ground during use of the invention.

During use, the batter takes a position alongside the plate and hits thebaseball towards the flexible material. The ball will strike the canvasas it moves along the arcuate path defined by the length of thenon-stretchable cord. The striking of the horizontally oriented materialcauses the material to yield, and thereafter, the resiliency of thematerial causes the ball to rebound along substantially the same arcuatepath defined by the nonstretchable cord. As the ball moves back towardthe plate, the batter again swings to drive it into the canvas backstop.

One of the principal keys to a good baseball batting practice device isto relate the point of suspension of the cord and baseball to theorientation of the resilient material, taking into account gravitationalforces, so that the non-stretchable cord is at all times in a fullyextended position. The result is that the baseball will always returntowards its quiescent position adjacent the player along the arcuatepath defined by the length of the cord. If the point of support for thebaseball is below the plane of the backstop, at impact the plane of thecord and the backstop form an acute angle and the gravitational forcepermits the ball to bounce as it returns to its quiescent or equilibriumposition. To discourage this tendency, it is necessary for the point ofattachment of the cord and ball to lie in the plane of the resilientbackstop or at least be related so that the plane of the resilientmaterial and the plane of the cord as the baseball strikes the resilientmaterial are essentially parallel.

Another feature of the present invention pertains to forming the framewhich supports the resilient material so that the parts which join atthe point of attachment for the cord are at substantially right anglesto each other. By this means, the right and left field foul linelocations are defined essentially by the frame extensions. This, coupledwith marking the general areas on the underside of the resilientmaterial to correspond to the fields, permits the batter to practiceturning to aim his swing for a particular part of the simulated baseballfield.

These and other objects and features of the present invention may bemore fully understood when the following detailed description is readwith reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of the baseball batting practice device formingthe present invention which illustrates the stance taken by aright-handed batter in using the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the batting practice device forming the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the batting practice device of the presentinvention; and,

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan View of a modification of the batting practicedevice illustrated in FIGS. 1-3.

The batting practice device forming the present invention comprises agenerally A-shaped frame 10 having a pair of spaced-apart, paralleltubular side pieces 11 and 12 with their outer ends forming extensions16 and 17 which extend outwardly and inwardly to a common point 18. Theends 21 and 22 of the frame 19 are flattened at right angles to the sidepieces 11 and 12 and apertured to attach the frame 10 to a vertical wallsurface, such as 24. The parts of the frame generally lie in a commonplane.

A pair of tubular reinforcing brackets 26 and 27 are provided to bracethe frame 10. The ends 28 and 29 are apertured for connection to theside pieces 11 and 12 by bolts 39, and the other ends 31 and 32apertured to be afiixed to the vertical supporting surface 24 by bolts36.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 13, there is provided a rear crossmember 34 which is attached between the side pieces 11 and 12 at rightangles thereto and, in conjunction with the side pieces 11 and 12,support a resilient material, e.g., canvas 35, that acts as a combinedbackstop and return mechanism.

The resilient member 35 is generally rectangular in shape and has loops35 formed in three of its edges to receive the side pieces 11 and 12 andbracket 34, as illustrated particularly in FIG. 1. The outer edge 38 ofthe canvas 35 terminates a little short of the junction between sidepiece 11 and extension 16 and side piece 12 and extension 17.

A flexible non-stretchable cord 41, preferably made of multi-twists ofnylon, is attached to the common point 18 of extensions 16 and 17 by wayof a threaded eyebolt or swivel 42. A baseball 43 is apertured toreceive the cord 41, and the length of the cord 41 is selected tosuspend the baseball in an equilibrium position in the strike zone. Thecord 41 may hold the baseball 43 by forming a knot in its end.

There is also provided a homeplate 45 which is positioned outwardly fromthe vertical support wall 24 approximately six to ten inches behind theequilibrium or quiescent position of the ball 43.

The width of the canvas backstop 35 is selected so that the bracket feet21, 22 of the side pieces 11, 12 and feet 31, 32 of the reinforcingbrackets 26, 27 will be aligned With studs 48, which studs are normallyon 16" centers behind the vertical surface 24. Slots 51 are formed inmember 34 to provide some adjustment of the spacing between the sidepieces 11 and 12. While the center-tocenter distance between side pieces11 and 12 is selected at approximately 48 inches, the canvas 35 hasroughly a two-inch slack which means that the canvas width isapproximately 105 percent of the center-to-center distance between theside pieces 11 and 12. It has been found that this degree of slackprovides both the proper energy absorption of a batted ball and thenecessary resiliency to return the ball along the arcuate path definedby the length of cord 41.

To use the present invention, the batter (as illustrated in FIG. 1)stands alongside the plate and swings his bat to strike the suspendedbaseball 43; The baseball follows an arcuate path as indicated by thedotted line of FIG. 1 until it strikes the underside of canvas backstop35 approximately at the point 51. Upon striking the canvas 35, the ball43 will deform member 35 and thereafter the resiliency of the canvas 35will cause the ball 43 to move back along its arcuate path towards thebatter. As the ball moves towards the batter, he can swing at it again,and successively repeat the process to sharpen his batting faculties.

A modification of the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 is shown inFIG. 4. It is substantially the same as the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3except that the piece 34 has been eliminated and the canvas 35 is heldin a preselected position only by the bolts 3% securing brackets 26 and27 to the side pieces 11 and 12.

It will also be observed in examining the first embodiment and that ofFIG. 4 that the extensions 1%? and 17 of the frame in coming together atpoint 18 form a right an le. The extensions, therefore, approximate theleft and right field foul lines of a baseball diamond. This, coupledwith the fact that left, center and right field locations are marked onthe underside of canvas 35, permits a ball player to practice hitting toa selected field. Marks 56, 57 and 58 are placed on the underside ofmember 35 to delineate the left field foul line, the middle of centerfield and the right field foul line, respectively.

Aside from selecting the amount of transverse slack 4 of the cord 41 andyet allow the batted ball to hit the canvas 35 any place between themarks 56 and 58 which delineate the left and right field foul lines of abaseball diamond.

While it is not necessary for the pivot point for the cord 41 and ball43 to lie precisely in the plane of the canvas backstop 35, it isnecessary for them to be so related that the plane of the resilientmember 35 and the plane of cord 41 are approximately parallel at impact.

While the present invention has been described with respect to anexemplary embodiment and a modification thereof, it should be apparentthat certain changes may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, thebatting practice device forming the present invention could be supportedon a portable or movable vertical surface rather than upon a fixed wallsurface as disclosed. Other modifications will become apparent, and theinvention should be limited only to the extent of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A batting practice device comprising, in combination,

(a) vertical support surfaces;

(b) a generally A-shaped unitary frame having spacedapart paralleltubular side pieces extending inwardly and outwardly to a commonjunction at one end;

(c) means to attach the uncommon ends of said side pieces to saidvertical support surfaces;

(d) a rectangular-shaped canvas backstop having loops formed on oppositesides to support it on said tubular side pieces;

(e) the width of said canvas between the looped edges beingapproximately percent of the separation between said side pieces;

(f) brackets connected between said side pieces and said verticalsupport surfaces to provide support for said frame and to maintain saidcanvas in a preselected position on said frame;

(g) a baseball; 4

(h) a flexible, relatively non-stretchable cord with multi-twistedfibers having one end attached to said baseball;

(i) swivel means attaching the other end of said cord to the commonjunction of said frame so that the baseball is suspended in the middleof an imaginary strike zone;

(j) a home plate positioned approximately six to ten inches beyond theequilibrium position of said ball with respect to the backstop; and,

(k) markings on the underside of said canvas to approximate the foullines and center field of a baseball diamond.

2. In a device for improving the batting ability of baseball players,the combination of (a) a canvas backstop mounted on a frame;

(b) means supporting said canvas backstop and frame in a generallyhorizontal plane a preselected height: above the ground;

(c) a flexible, non-stretchable cord having a baseball attached to oneend; and,

(d) means connecting the other end of said cord to said frame generallycoincident with said horizontal. plane but at a point spaced-apart fromsaid backstop so that the baseball will traverse an arcuate pathdetermined by the length of said cord both as it strikes the undersideof said backstop and as it rebounds therefrom.

3. A batting practice device comprising, in combination,

(a) a frame attached to a vertical mounting surface;

(b) a canvas backstop supported between the outer sides of said frame ina horizontal plane;

(c) the outer sides of said frame extending outwardly and inwardly atright angles to each other to a common point of connection;

(d) a flexible, non-stretchable cord having a baseball attached to oneend; and,

(e) means for attaching the other end of said cord to said common pointof said outer sides so that the ball is suspended in an equilibriumposition, whereby, upon being struck by a batter, the ball moves alongthe arcuate path defined by the length of said cord to contact theunderside of said canvas and returns toward its equilibrium positionsubstantially along said arcuate path.

4. In a device for improving the batting proficiency of a baseballplayer, the combination of (a) a generally A-shaped frame attached to avertical support member to lie in a generally horizontal plane;

(b) a slack canvas backstop supported on the legs of said frame inspaced-apart relation to said vertical surface;

(c) a flexible, non-stretchable cord;

((1) a baseball attached to one end of said cord; and,

(e) swivel means for connecting the other end of said cord to said frameat the apex of the A-frame outwardly of said vertical surface and saidcanvas so that said baseball is suspended in an equilibrium positionwithin a simulated strike zone;

(f) the length of said cord and the location of said canvas being suchthat the baseball upon being arcuately moved about said swivel pointcontacts the canvas backstop at a point approximately two-thirds thedistance from the outermost edge of said backstop to the innermost edge;

g) said canvas being supported on said frame in a partially slackcondition so that it stores part of the energy of the ball and acts toreturn the ball along its arcuate path toward said equilibrium positionafter the ball is driven along its arcuate path by the batter.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,066,437 7/1913 Rank 272-782,709,082 5/1955 Klaudt 272-78 2,839,300 6/1958 Blaha et al 273-262,986,398 5/1961 Oliver 273-26 3,006,647 10/1961 Haskett 273-263,169,771 2/1965 Holmes 273-98 ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Examiner.

